


The Detective and the Blue-Eyed Fox

by CadenceH2O



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Death, F/M, Gen, Marinette has more alter egos, Minor Character Death, Plot Twists, So much angst, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:02:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CadenceH2O/pseuds/CadenceH2O
Summary: Originally a detective and criminal au with Daminette that spiralled out of control and became this concoction of plot twists and shocks. Enjoy. (You might want to sit down for this, it gets pretty wild)
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne
Comments: 73
Kudos: 278





	1. Unravelling the Past

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted from my Tumblr (@/cadenceh2o). 
> 
> Requested by wannajointhecrabcult: [What about a daminette fic with prompt #26 with Robin and a Cat!Marinette or Fox!Marinette? I love your writing btw! I just love reading your work]
> 
> Prompt #26: Detective x Criminal AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian unravels the long, complicated past of Gotham's new blue-eyed fox, who has been closer to him than he knows.

»»——⍟——««

It was the third time that month, Damian thought bitterly to himself. The third time that month that he let that cunning, slippery little _vixen_ get away with her tricks. It was getting on his nerves, failing to catch the ‘criminal’ continuously. 

Now 25 years old, Damian Wayne had made a sudden career change from being the successor of the Wayne Enterprises to being a detective for GCPD. Of course, having an alter ego as Robin was nothing but a bonus that made investigating a tad bit easier. 

He had studied criminology in university, and the moment he graduated, he had moved out of the Wayne manor, finding a nice, quiet apartment a little distance away from the GCPD office. 

“Morning, Dami!” Dick greeted happily, holding two coffee cups in his hands. “Got you your usual, Americano with no milk.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Damian mumbled, not really listening. His mind was focused on the fact that his identity had been compromised. The night before, he had received a letter from an anonymous sender. The card presented him with a riddle, which he had eventually decoded as the clues detailing Gotham’s newest criminal’s latest heist. 

Only, the card was addressed to Robin. 

_I’ll see you there, little bird <3 _

The last line of the card troubled him instantly, and moments later, he realised it was hinting at the fact that he had an alter ego as _Robin_ , and it wasn’t helping that Robin had been in various, constant encounters with Gotham’s slyest criminal, who now knew the identity of his alter ego.

Slamming his fist against a concrete wall, the youngest Wayne hissed in pain as his knuckles started bleeding. At least his anger and frustration had subdued a little. A few other police officers stared at him in surprise, never having seen the green-eyed Wayne lose his cool. 

“Are... Are you alright?” His partner, the newest addition to GCPD, asked with an amused tone. “What’s got you so riled up?”

“Shut up, Cheng.” Damian muttered, accepting the bandages that she handed to him. “I’m just... Frustrated, that’s all.” 

The bluenette scoffed. “Because of Lan?” 

Three months ago, Gotham met a new criminal by the name of Lan Hu. From what GCPD had gathered so far, Lan didn’t associate with villains like Joker or Two Face, but instead chose to be a lone performer, once in a while showing up to aid Poison Ivy and Harley in their... Less malicious schemes. 

Lan did carry out her own attacks, though. By far, three politicians had been attacked and robbed by the criminal, only for said politicians to be exposed by the media, who had received information of the politicians’ corruption from an anonymous source. 

“What else?” Damian snapped angrily. He had been paired with the bluenette since three months ago, the two tasked on unravelling the mystery of Lan and where she came from. “It’s been three months and we’ve had little to no leads.” 

“Well...” Marinette trailed off. “She is pretty good at covering up her tracks.” 

He glared at her. “Not helping.” The card lingered on his mind, the riddle hinting on Lan’s next attack prodding at the edge of his thoughts. If he told Cheng about the riddle, they _could_ possibly have a chance at catching up to Lan for once... But on the other hand, it could be another person who knew his identity as Robin. 

“Is there... Something you want to tell me?” She raised an eyebrow, sensing his hesitation. “Partners don’t hide stuff from each other.” 

_Partners don’t hide their secret identities from each other either, but I suppose both of us are hypocrites_. 

Marinette resisted the urge to laugh as she watched Damian’s sour, retreating back. 

»»——⍟——««

“Lan.” Damian spoke quietly, knowing full well she could hear him. He was standing on the rooftop of one of Gotham’s tallest buildings- One owned by one of Gotham’s richest politicians. 

The night echoed back in silence. Lan was nowhere to be seen, but Damian knew her well enough to know that she was hiding somewhere, listening to him talk to the air. 

He had eventually realised, when he looked at the riddle again, that she wasn’t planning a heist. The card hinted for him to go to the location _alone_ , and if he wasn’t wrong, there was something she had for him. 

“Come out, I know you’re here.” He snapped. “You said you wanted us to have a peaceful talk. I’m talking. Stop being a coward and-” 

She was in front of him in an instant, sapphire eyes glowing. A dark slit crossed the centre of the almond-shaped sapphire orbs, watching him carefully with a sly, knowing smile across her lips. “Nice seeing you here, _detective_. I have to admit, I expected to see bird boy, but I suppose it doesn’t make a difference.” 

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, knowing that if he let his anger show, she was only going to tempt him more and things would play to her favour. “What did you want to show me?”

“Be patient.” She purred. She was clad in a skin-tight dark-blue and black suit, wearing a black jacket with a fox-themed hoodie above her suit. A golden necklace that looked like a fox’s tail hung around her neck. “I come in peace. I think you know what this is about.” 

Of course he did. As if it wasn’t obvious enough. She had chosen for them to meet on the rooftop of a building owned by one of Gotham’s richest politicians- A politician that literally everyone knew was corrupt, but had no evidence to back the accusation up with. “You have evidence that he’s corrupt.” He said quietly. 

“That’s right.” Lan smirked foxily, sapphire eyes glinting. “I’ve been doing _research_ , detective.” 

“And what do you want in return?” Damian narrowed his eyes. “You’re hardly the type of person to give without wanting anything in return.” 

She laughed softly, and if she wasn’t a criminal, he’d find the laugh soothing. “Correct again, detective.” Her expression turned serious. “I’m looking for a ring.” 

“A... A ring?”

“That’s right.” She seemed to hesitate. “I’m taking a chance by telling you this, detective. Before you take this information to GCPD, remember that I have your little _secret_ on my side.” 

Damian breathed out softly. So that’s why she was holding it over his head like that- She was trusting him, and his identity was her insurance. “Why do you want this ring?” 

“... If the ring falls into the wrong hands, one man could single-handedly destroy this entire world.” She said quietly. “I’ve left both the evidence on Harold (The politician) and the information revolving the ring in your mailbox.” 

With that, she was gone, and Damian was all alone, the night echoing back in silence once more. 

»»——⍟——««

True to her word, a file listing all the slip-ups and mistakes made by James Harold were listed and filed carefully in a folder that had been stashed inside Damian’s mailbox. Next to the file was a small, black USB. 

That very night, Damian plugged the USB into his laptop, not at all surprised when it requested a password. After all, the ‘ring’ seemed pretty important, and it would be completely unlike Lan if she left it without encrypting it. 

He had first tried ‘Lan’. Then ‘LanHu’. Another hour passed and he had tried as many combinations as he could, and was on the verge of screaming. Giving up at last, he turned to the file, flipping through it irritatedly to take his mind off the USB. 

As he was going through the thirtieth page of Lan’s compilation of evidence, his doorbell rang. Getting up, he squinted through the peep hole, only to see that someone had taped a sticky note onto his peep hole from the other side. 

_How’s your French?_

He made a noise of confusion. The note was handwritten, the words written in a neat, black ink. Upon a closer inspection of the words, he caught a whiff of... Was that _orange_? 

It hit him like a truck. 

He dashed back into his apartment, reaching for the iron. Sure enough, words appeared on the sticky note after it was exposed to heat... 

_B-l-a-c-k C-a-t_

He blinked, recalling the little French he had learnt in high school. Black... _Noir_... Cat... _Chat_. 

_Chat Noir_. 

Instantly, he plugged the USB back into his laptop, fingers typing the eight letters in a hurry as soon as the password-request popped up. 

_C-h-a-t-N-o-i-r_. 

The laptop made a _ping!_ noise, signalling that it was unlocked. Nothing could’ve prepared him for what he saw. Articles on Paris’s disappeared heroes, on a villain named _Hawkmoth’s_ defeat, articles on... _Chat Noir and Ladybug._

The articles in the USB weren’t enough to feed his curiosity, because by the next hour he was combing through the internet for more information on Chat Noir and Ladybug, and what had happened to Paris three months ago. It was nearly midnight by the time he clicked on a link that brought him to the _Ladyblog._

The most recent article dated to three months ago, detailing of the two superheroes’ disappearance. The article below that talked of Hawkmoth’s defeat, although it was never revealed to the media who he was. He skimmed through every article, slowly building a timeline in his brain. 

By the time it was three in the morning, he had read through two years’ worth of posts. There had been a couple interviews with the superheroes. Ladybug held the miraculous of creation, of luck; Chat Noir held the miraculous of destruction, of misfortune. 

After going through a few footages of Chat Noir’s ‘Cataclysm’, he understood what Lan said when she meant that one man could destroy the whole world with the ring. He understood why she needed the ring back so badly. 

You’d think that he’d be wary about giving a ring capable of destruction to a criminal, but... No. It was nearly 4am when he realised why Lan was hunting down the ring of the black cat. 

Ladybug and Chat Noir used to recruit other heroes to help them battle the ‘akumas’, and the moment Damian saw Rena Rouge, he knew instantly what was going on. 

Lan was Ladybug. Ladybug, with the fox miraculous. He’d seen the necklace on her neck, plus both Lan and Ladybug had the same sapphire eyes. Ladybug was desperately searching for the miraculous of destruction. Now, the only problem that remained was those blue eyes. 

The blue eyes that belonged to Ladybug/Lan that he was _pretty sure_ also belonged to one particular Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

»»——⍟——««


	2. The God of Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The God of Destruction makes an appearance in Damian's apartment- (And he brings destruction with him)- But he also provides more information on the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crossposted from my Tumblr (@/cadenceh2o).

»»——⍟——««

_Plagg watched the emerald-eyed man from behind the glass. Intelligence shone behind the young detective’s cold exterior, the emerald-eyed man’s curiosity overwriting his tiredness as the man continued scouring the internet for more information, stopping once in a while to download a document or copy an article for future reference._

_“Where am I supposed to start looking for this ring?” Damian grunted in frustration, the god of chaos wanting to laugh dryly at the sheer coincidence that the world had aligned them to. “There’s no records of how or when it disappeared, or what happened to Chat Noir…”  
_

_The words brought back bad memories, the god of destruction clenching his paws in anger as he remembered what happened to his last kitten, what Chat Noir’s last act had been in an effort to keep the miraculous of destruction out of the wrong hands…_

_“Plagg, claws out!” Chat Noir whispered, grunting in pain as he clutched his stomach, blood dripping down his fingers in a delicate, maroon painting that would’ve beautiful if not for what the ‘paint’ actually was.  
_

_“Do you have a death wish, kid?” Plagg yelled, glancing around the dark alley they were in worriedly. “You still have time before the transformation wears off! Without the transformation, you can’t run, and you’ll bleed even faster…” The kwami’s words trailed off as Adrien collapsed onto the stone-cold pavement, blood dripping out from his lips, his complexion becoming paler and paler._

_It had been three months after Hawkmoth’s defeat. Paris was in peace- Or so everyone thought. Ladybug, plagued with endless memories of numerous deaths and times when she was too late, too slow, made the decision to leave Paris behind._

_The scarlet-clad superheroine dropped off the edge of the world. Two weeks after her disappearance, a new villain arose- Except this one kept his attacks secret and concentrated on one, sole person: Chat Noir._

_Chat came to know his nemesis by the name Vengeur, a man more familiar than he expected. Eventually, his identity was compromised and Adrien Agreste could do nothing more than run._

_And even when he ran, he couldn’t run far._

_“I can’t go on, Plagg.” Adrien rasped, his voice getting fainter as Paris’s skies darkened. “Take the ring,” He said shakily, slipping the metal off his finger. They could both sense the man drawing closer, bidding his time because they were cornered and they all knew that. “Take the ring and go.”_

_“But!”  
_

_“I command you to leave. I, Adrien Agreste, denounce the miraculous of destruction. Go find m’Lady, Plagg,” The blonde’s voice slowly got weaker. “And tell her I love her.  
_

_Plagg found himself being whisked away against his wishes, the law of the miraculous stating that he must obey his holder’s final wishes. It was in that way that the god of destruction eventually, by fate or by coincidence, found himself inside Damian Wayne’s katana display case._

»»——⍟——««

Damian called in sick for the next day, because 1) he was too tired from the all-nighter he pulled in an attempt for any information on the ring and 2) he didn’t know how to face Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

Dragging himself out of bed, a quick glance outside the window told him that it was nearly noon. Damian yawned, stretching a little as he scrolled through Dick’s bombardment of ‘Are you okay?’ messages and Marinette’s single ‘Are you sick?’ message. Ruffling his dark hair, the emerald-eyed detective got through his morning routine (Despite the fact his bedside alarm said that it was nearly 11.50am), changing out of his crumpled dress shirt into a comfortable sweater. 

Plopping himself down on his desk, he pressed the start-up button of his laptop, deciding to go through some of Lan’s evidence on Harold before diving back into the mystery of the ring of destruction. 

Before he could get started, however, a loud shattering noise shook his apartment. He was up instantly, staring at his katana display case across the living room. Glass coated the floor around it, shattered into fine, sparkling specks. 

He blinked. 

The glass of his display case just… Shattered? Into _powder_? 

“Sorry about that.” A dry voice told him, the detective turning instantly, his eyes sharp until he caught the tiny, black creature hovering right above his desk. “I think you can guess who I am.” 

Damian blinked. Was it possible to attack a creature smaller than his palm? His katana was just across the room… 

“I can turn your sword into _dust_ with a single touch.” The small creature deadpanned. “My name is Plagg, and I am the kwami of destruction.” 

»»——⍟——««

_Plagg always knew he could leave. Damian wasn’t in the apartment for nine hours a day, sometimes more; He could’ve just pushed (Or cataclysmed) the katana’s display case and leave, leaving no evidence that he was every there- Besides the mess, that was._

_But something made him stay._

_Adrien’s last wish had brought him to Detective Damian Wayne, son of Bruce Wayne, the richest man in Gotham. Was it a coincidence that Damian Wayne had all the traits of a potential black cat? Perhaps, but Plagg would be an idiot not to stick around and find out._

»»——⍟——««

“So you’re telling me that just when I was looking for the ring of destruction, you just… Appear, and tell me you’ve been here for two weeks.” Damian clarified. “Amazing.” 

Plagg shrugged. “I don’t control what happens, kid. Not this time, at least.” 

Damian was quiet for a moment. “What happened to him?” Silence ensued in the apartment, the kwami of destruction looking away instantly, the pain of losing another cat- Especially one so young- Still strong and ebbing away in the little heart he had in his kwami body. 

“I don’t think you need to know that.” Plagg said at last. 

“Don’t you think I deserve an explanation?” 

The kwami hissed. “You’re a detective, kid. Isn’t it your job to _find_ your own explanation?” 

“Well, you just _shattered_ my display case. Maybe you could at least explain why you had to break it.” Damian snapped back, emerald eyes burning into cat-like slits. “There’s no records about what happened after Hawkmoth was captured.” 

The god of destruction stared at the detective for a moment more, finally relenting. Damian didn’t know where the ring was, Plagg reassured himself, if it ever came down to it, he could retreat back inside the ring and track down Ladybug himself- Now that he knew that Ladybug was in the same city as he was. 

“Three months ago, Hawkmoth was captured. After he was arrested, Ladybug dropped out of radar and moved out of Paris.” Plagg explained, his tone icy. 

“Three months ago, Marinette Dupain-Cheng transferred to GPD.” Damian noted in realisation. 

Plagg nodded. “Ladybug- As you guessed, Marinette Dupain-Cheng- Left Paris to keep the Ladybug miraculous safe. Chat Noir remained in Paris to defend it. A new… Enemy started attacking Chat Noir aggressively, keeping the attacks out of public eye. Chat Noir was being hunted down and… Eventually, he got caught. Two weeks ago.” The kwami’s voice got softer towards the end as images of a bleeding Adrien flashed past Plagg’s mind. 

Damian was silent for a moment, sensing that the kwami was still sensitive about his previous holder’s death. “Two weeks ago, Adrien Agreste was brutally murdered in Paris.” He whispered. Of course he’d seen the news- After Gabriel Agreste mysteriously ‘disappeared’, Adrien Agreste took over the Gabriel brand, renaming it the Agreste Brand. Three months later, the new CEO of the Agreste Brand was found bleeding out, dead in a dark alley of Paris. That day, the city of love mourned a kind-hearted citizen who had poured his entire soul into his city. 

“Ladybug’s kwami probably told her the identity of Chat Noir when the news was released.” Plagg continued, softer this time. “That’s probably when she started hunting down the ring.” 

“Wait. Lan- Ladybug didn’t know who Chat Noir was?” Damian furrowed his eyebrows. 

Plagg nodded. “It was to protect themselves and their families. If one was ever captured, the other’s identity would never have the risk of being exposed, even if it was by accident.” The kwami squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to think of Adrien being tortured even in his dying moments for Ladybug’s identity. 

“Hang on for a moment.” Damian took a deep breath. “You were with Chat Noir when he was… Caught, correct? So that means you must know who the man behind the attacks is?” 

The emerald-eyed man had developed a thirst for unravelling mysteries, and now he was _really_ getting invested in the case. His eyes burned with curiosity as he waited for Plagg’s answer. 

“Yes.” Plagg took a deep breath. 

_“His name is Luka Couffaine.”_

»»——⍟——««

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Please don't kill me) Thank you for reading!


	3. Getting Things Straight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the help of Plagg, the witness of Adrien Agreste's murder, Damian makes more sense of everything that's going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Crossposted from my Tumblr (@/cadenceh2o)

»»——⍟——««

“Luka… Couffaine?” Damian furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. 

The black cat kwami nodded. “That’s right.” 

“… Am I supposed to know who that is?” 

»»——⍟——««

_The spatter of red on his palm didn’t faze the blonde at all. If he closed his eyes, he could pretend it was just a splotch of fabric dye… But the footsteps were getting closer, and the clock counting down the seconds to his death was becoming more deafening._

_“Adrien.” Vengeur growled through his mask, crazed blue eyes sparkling like a mutated wolf’s even in the dark of the night.  
_

_The blonde groaned as the man dressed in black yanked his wrist up violently, a sharp blow adding to the thousands that he had already received in the gut when the man realised the ring was gone._

_“Where is the ring?” Vengeur yowled, a feral anger blazing in the eyes that Adrien realised were familiar to him. “Where the hell is the ring?”_

_Coughing weakly, the blonde managed a slight victorious smile at the man’s fury. “Somewhere safe,” Some would even say that Adrien dared to look cocky in the last moments of his life. “Somewhere you’ll never find.”_

_“You little…”  
_

_Adrien wasn’t surprised by the face he saw when Vengeur tore off his mask. “Luka… How did it come to this?”_

_“It’s all your fault.” The teal-eyed man hissed, his hand clenching into a fist that could crush mountains. “Yours and Ladybug’s. If you managed to save Marinette’s parents, she wouldn’t have left Paris behind! She wouldn’t have left me behind!”  
_

_The cries of the heartbroken man had brewed into a toxic potion of anger and fury, fuelling Vengeur’s determination to chase down the miraculous to bring back his beloved bluenette’s parents._

_“Do you think I don’t regret that everyday?” Adrien choked out, more splashes of red accompanying his sorrowful words. “Do you think Ladybug doesn’t regret that everyday of her life?”  
_

_“Then you should’ve cooperated.” Said Vengeur, unsheathing the double-edged sword that he had used to chase down Chat Noir for three months. “If you’d cooperated, all we need to do is find Ladybug and her earrings, and we’d be able to bring Marinette and her parents back to Paris.”_

_Staring in to the face of death, Adrien spat on the blade, defiance clear in his eyes. “Marinette would never forgive you. If anything, she would run even further away from you.”  
_

_“Shut up.” Luka’s eyes were completely void of any care as his blade striked a line across Adrien’s throat, the night regaining its’ cold silence as Chat Noir bade the world goodbye._

»»——⍟——««

“Let me get this straight.” Damian paced the apartment, Plagg drifting behind the green-eyed detective. “Luka Couffaine, or rather, _Vengeur_ , killed Chat Noir- Adrien Agreste- Because he wanted the cat miraculous, which when combined together with the ladybug miraculous, can bring back someone from the dead.” 

Plagg nodded. _Damn_ , the kwami thought, _the kid’s a fast learner_. 

“And Luka Couffaine has somehow convinced himself that if he can bring back Cheng’s parents, who were killed in the last akuma battle- He can convince Cheng to go back to Paris?” Damian clarified, rubbing his hands together as he sorted out all the information in his mind. 

“Correct.” 

“But he doesn’t know that Marinette Cheng _is_ Ladybug.” 

The black cat kwami nodded again. “Yep.” 

Damian was quiet for a while, thoughts running through his mind at two hundred miles per hour. “And does Luka Couffaine know _where_ to start looking for Ladybug? Could Chat Noir have given anything by accident?” 

“No, Adrien didn’t even know that Marinette was Ladybug. He didn’t even know where Marinette went after she left Paris, either.” Plagg pointed out as-a-matter-of-factly. 

“Vengeur can’t possibly be planning to search every city in the world for Ladybug?” The green-eyed detective frowned, trying to predict Vengeur’s next move on the continent-wide chessboard. “What is he going to do next?” 

Plagg grimaced. “That’s what we don’t know, and what we have to figure out.” 

»»——⍟——««

“Well that’s helpful,” Marinette commented sarcastically, Damian’s empty desk right in the middle of her sights. “He called in sick.” 

The bluenette grumbled in displeasure, going through her emails to make sure she didn’t miss anything important. One of her more recent emails caught her eye- One from an old friend. 

_From: alyacesaire@mail.com_

_To: marinettecheng@mail.com_

_Subject: Update_

_[Marinette,_

_Things aren’t pretty in Paris right now. Luka’s been consistently asking everyone where you are- He’s really worried about you, girl. Everyone’s been on edge ever since Adrien… You know. Of course, I didn’t say anything about where you went- A promise is a promise, and I understand why it’s difficult for you to face Paris right now._

_The police are still trying to track down Adrien’s killer. They haven’t disclosed any information to the public yet, but Sabrina (She’s in their crime division now, remember?) did tell me that they have a lead. Chat Noir is still nowhere to be seen, and Paris is completely defenceless. We’re all hoping the killer doesn’t strike again._

_Please stay safe,_

_Sincerely, Alya]_

The bluenette leaned back into her chair with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. Alya was right- Paris was utterly defenceless- But she doubted the killer would make a move anytime soon. It was pretty obvious to her- The killer wanted Chat’s miraculous, and the next target would only be _Ladybug_ herself. 

Before she could continue to unpack the various events that were unfolding in Paris, another email caught her off her guard. 

_From: damianwayne@mail.com_

_To: marinettecheng@mail.com_

_Subject: We Need to Talk_

_[I’m just going to cut to the chase. We’re apparently, both smart enough to figure out each other’s alter egos._

_Long story short, I found your ring. … Actually, your ring found me. And broke my display case. In addition, we have a first-person witness to Agreste’s murder._

_Get off work early. We need to talk. My apartment,_ _Gotham Lotus Apartment, Block B, Level 14, Lot-A27._

_D.Wayne]_

»»——⍟——««

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	4. Denial Will Be Your Downfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The identity of Adrien Agreste's murder is known to more then one...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cross-posted from my Tumblr (@/cadenceh2o) 
> 
> I love how people here are like: JSKJKSJ CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT   
> And I'm just like: Yeah me too at this point I'm just throwing plot twists at you guys to see what happens

»»——⍟——««

What, exactly, had Marinette been expecting, you ask? 

Anything except Damian Wayne somehow uncovering her alter-ego (Both of them, might she add) and acquiring the miraculous of the black cat under two days. She had to admit, she knew he was something- That's why she recruited his help in her desperate search for Chat Noir's former miraculous- But in under two days? That was just appalling. 

And if you had told Damian Wayne three months ago that he would, three months later, be sitting in his apartment across his coworker, who had been moonlighting as Gotham’s newest vigilante, Lan, and also happened to be Paris’s former superhero who fought villains induced by _butterflies_ (Of all things), accompanied by two practically-god creatures that were the size of flying mice, he would’ve called the mental hospital. Not to mention that they were discussing the murder of her former partner slash newly appointed CEO of Agreste Enterprises. Throw in the fact that the murderer happened to be a musician who probably had a crush on her civilian identity and wanted to use magic jewellery to bring back his crush’s parents, and the whole thing just sounded like a fifth-grader’s vivid imagination. 

He had considered admitting himself into the mental hospital, but at that point he was way too invested in the ‘case’. 

“Luka?” Denial was a clear ring in her voice, disbelief a close second in volume. 

For weeks, the one thing she wanted to know was the name of her partner’s killer, and now that she knew it, she wanted to give it back. Luka, sweet, kind-hearted, generous Luka- A murderer? 

Plagg nodded grimly in confirmation. 

“I don’t believe this.” Marinette shook her head defiantly, refusing to believe the truth that the god of destruction laid out for her. “He would never...” 

“We literally have an eye witness.” Deadpanned Damian, straight-forward as ever. The bluenette sucked in a breath, lowering her head to avoid her coworker spotting the tears that pricked her eyelids like ice needles. Everything _hurt-_ She had lost her parents in a final battle to win Paris its’ normality back, then she lost her partner, and now she was faced with the truth that the one man she thought she could trust- Was a killer. 

The detective’s eyes softened. “I know it’s hard to take in, and I know I shouldn’t ask you for this- Especially after everything you’ve sacrificed- But Couffaine probably isn’t the same person you knew anymore. You need to stop seeing him as your friend, and hard as it is- You need to start looking at him as the man who killed your partner- And wants to kill _you_. If you keep going like this, _denial will be your downfall_.” 

A droplet of blood formed on the bluenette’s lip as she bit down _hard_ to hold in her pain, her agony, her tears. How much longer did she have to suffer? How much longer did she have to be brave? How much longer did she have to endure what the world threw at her? 

“... You know, you can cry if you want. I can’t say I understand, but being in your position now must be pretty hard. You’ll only hurt yourself if you keep everything inside.” 

Damian had seen victims. Too many. He knew and saw first-hand the overwhelming emotions that could surge over one, the unstoppable tsunami of feelings that could wipe out the legs you thought were strong enough to hold you, the wave that could destroy everything and leave you with a broken wasteland as it receded. 

He knew the harm of pent-up emotions. Pent-up emotions were like a jar filled with explosive gas, waiting for the slightest spark to trigger an explosion. And when it did explode, you would find shards of glass digging in to your skin, digging into the skins of the ones around you. He knew the harm of pent-up emotions, because he had felt it first-hand. Because as cold, as uncaring and blunt his exterior could be, Damian Wayne was a human, and he knew what it was like to _hurt_. 

“You don’t have to hold it in just because you want to hold an image of a strong person in front of me.” He continued. “No matter what happens from here on out, you’re already very strong to me. Emotionally and physically. You were thrust into the role of a superhero with no guidance, made to deal with all the pressure with no one to confide to due to the risks it made to the ones around you. You fought without pause ever since you were a teen, only to lose so much when everything was over. You tried to start again, only to be faced with more pain. The fact that you’re still standing, that you’re still doing something to fight back- That’s amazing in itself.” 

A dry, choked-out sob of a laugh startled him. “Of all people. I never expected that you to be the one that would understand.”

“Hmm.” Damian shrugged, leaning back into his chair with an air of looking unbothered. “I have a rather high standard for what I consider to be strong- Emotionally, anyway, and you just so happen to have been through enough to pass that standard.” 

She cracked a small smile at his feeble attempt to shrink back into his ‘I’m-cold-and-I-don’t-care’ shell. “Back to business- Since you’ve found the ring _and_ the person behind this...” Luka’s name stung the tip of her tongue, and it was too soon and too painful to say- But much to her gratefulness, Damian didn’t bring up her avoidance of his name. “I better contribute by telling you I think I know where he’ll be.”

The green-eyed detective perked up instantly, moving from his relaxed position to one that was leaning forward, eyes wide in curiosity. 

“I don’t where he is _now_ , per say, but I know where he’ll be.” She continued with a smile. “Have you ever wanted to visit the City of Love?” 

»»——⍟——««

What was formerly the City of Love was now a mourning city, shrouded in rain clouds and misery. The murder of Adrien Agreste tightened like a noose, gradually strangling and suffocating the city below. Rain pattered onto Paris’s black cobblestone roads, the streets empty with the exception of one or two pedestrians, walking as quickly as they could to avoid being alone with the deafening silence of post-war Paris. 

The silence was accented by the steady splash of rainwater as a lone figure walked slowly down the street, a black hood shielding his face. Turquoise eyes gleamed as the man approached the house of the woman expecting him, raising his hand to press the doorbell once. 

“Luka.” 

Chloe Bourgeois stood in the doorway of her apartment, eyeing the drenched man with a purse of her lips. “You are not stepping into my apartment like that. If you get a single splotch of mud on my carpet...” She glowered at him, unsatisfied until he grumbled, removing his cloak and muddy boots. 

The deceased mayor’s daughter scrunched her nose in disgust, handing the man a towel to dry off with. 

“Wipe your feet on the towel until they’re clean. Don’t step all over my house with those _dirty_ feet of yours.” Chloe scoffed, leaving him in the entrance of her apartment while she strolled back inside, her golden silk robe fluttering behind her movements. 

“Any progress?” Luka asked gruffly, looking as uncomfortable as he could be, seated on the pearl-white couch inside the blonde’s luxurious apartment. The mayor had left his daughter quite the fortune. 

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Chloe rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her tea. “Luka, my answer will be the same as the one I gave you yesterday.” 

The man resisted the urge to slam his hands on the glass coffee table in frustration. “You’ve been searching for Ladybug for _weeks_. What is taking you so long?” 

“Excuse me.” Chloe cleared her throat, looking rather offended. “If I’m not mistaken, you had _three months_ ever since Ladybug left, and _you_ didn’t find anything, either. I don’t think you’re in the position to criticise my progress.” 

He shot a glare in her direction, displeased with her jab at his failed attempts to locate the holder of the Ladybug miraculous. “Find her,” He hissed, standing up abruptly. The blonde wasn’t fazed at all, taking another sip out of her tea with a bored expression. “Find her if you want to bring your father and butler back.” 

The heavy footfalls belonging to the impatient man made Chloe scoff, the loud slam of her front door causing an angry ‘Hey! Watch it!’ from the blonde. She sighed softly, reminiscing of the days when things weren’t so complicated and everything was alright. Across her living room sat two framed pictures, sitting next to each other serenely. 

The first was a photo of herself, Mayor Bourgeois, and the butler, Jean, the three of them standing in front of Le Grand Paris, in all of its’ golden glory. The second was a photo of 5-year-old Chloe, smiling toothily with her arm slung around another blonde- Adrien Agreste, with his soft green eyes and his shy smile. 

“I won’t let you be forgotten.” She whispered to no one in particular, still staring at the two framed pictures. “That’s a promise.” 

»»——⍟——««

Meanwhile, in the dreary corridor leading to Paris’s highest-security-prison, was a displeased woman, glaring daggers at the guards who were denying her entry. 

“You _morons_.” She hissed, her French slanting off with a clear American accent that resounded even clearly in her anger. “For the last time, I’ve told you, I _work_ for the FBI, and I _need_ to talk to him.” 

“Ma’am, we’ve received no sort of alert that an agent was coming to visit.” The guard defended, baring her from highest-security-cell in the whole building. There had been at least five other gates before the one she was at, and at everyone of them she had been throughly questioned and checked for anything that could result in an outbreak of disaster. 

A dry laugh echoed off the grey cement walls of the holding. “Well, then you go ahead and tell my superiors that I’ve come here for nothing and that they have to pay for a second flight.” The woman smiled when sparks of fear alighted inside the two guards’ eyes- She had come so far, and she wasn’t going to let two measly guards stop her when she was just one wall away from her target. 

“I... Alright miss. You should know the rules, don’t get too close to him.” One of the guards said reluctantly, sharing hesitating looks with his partner, but they opened the heavy metal door for her nonetheless. The woman, dressed in a black blazer, a white blouse, and a dark-coloured pencil skirt, nodded her appreciation, heels clicking as she stepped into the holding. 

A two-inch thick glass separated her and the grey-haired man, who looked up in surprise, eyes flashing in recognition of his visitor. 

“Mr. Agreste.” She addressed politely, dark red hair tied up in a formal bun. 

The man that was formerly Hawkmoth glanced at her up and down, and then at the closed metal door. “I have to say, I’m impressed you managed to get in here.” A low laugh rumbled from his throat, cracking out of the speaker by the side of the glass wall that allowed the man to communicate. 

She smiled at his compliment. 

“It’s been a while, Lila Rossi.” 

»»——⍟——««

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What the actual thought process for the chapter 2 cliffhanger was: 
> 
> Me writing the line where Plagg is about to tell Damian who the killer is: ooookay. I need a killer. who as the killer would shock the readers the most?   
> Me, seeing my cyan-coloured mouse: Oh hey! Luka has blue hair   
> Me:   
> Me:   
> Me: LUKA IT IS 
> 
> At this point I might as well have a wheel of plot twists and what happens next is determined by which one the dart lands on when I throw it- 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment to tell me what you think, I do read all of the comments :3


	5. All Her Fault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The true intention of Lila's visit is not what you thought...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cross-posted on my Tumblr (@/cadenceh2o) 
> 
> warning(s): mentions of death, death, but not explicitly written, so read this at your own risk! 
> 
> I have to say, this has to be the most elaborately planned multi-chapter fic I have ever written. For the first time in my life, I know what's going to happen in the next chapter ;)

»»——⍟——«« 

Three walls of cement and one wall of two-inch glass. Gabriel Agreste faced the four blank slates of his confinement everyday for three months, pondering on how he was going to endure the remaining of his days in his dreary ‘home’. They wouldn’t even provide him with paper to create some sketches on- (What were they afraid of? Paper butterflies? He was powerless without his miraculous). 

“So, what business do we have today, Ms. Rossi?” He asked smoothly, business-like as ever despite not being able to remember the last time he had a conversation. Three months of complete isolation- The guards wouldn’t even spare him a single word, and to be fair, he couldn’t blame them. 

“Did you hear about Adrien?” 

Being straightforward when she wanted to be was one of Lila’s strong traits. Her words were driven to the point, cleared from the lies that typically shrouded them. A borderline sadistic smile traced her vermilion lips when a spark of curiosity glimmered in the man’s eyes- Oh, she was going to enjoy being the bearer of the staggering news. 

“What about Adrien?” She could tell- He was expecting something perhaps along the lines of his son screwing up the company he inherited, or perhaps his son making a public statement about- 

“He’s dead.” 

Gabriel froze from where he was seated on the cement block they provided him with, red draining from his already-pale skin and his bloodshot eyes. “What?” His voice was but a hoarse whisper, a denial, a beg, a plea for the woman to laugh and tell him that it was all some cruel joke. 

“He was murdered.” Oh, how she enjoyed seeing the anguish dawn into his eyes. The pain seeped into his body like a parasite, leeching away any will of survival the man had left. “Two weeks ago.” 

If getting stripped of his miraculous and being arrested was the sky crashing upon the world he tried so hard to bring his wife back into, then the revelation of his son’s death would be the universe collapsing into itself, becoming a black hole that self destructed from the very core of Gabriel Agreste’s heart. 

“Felix Graham de Vanily is combining the Agreste and the Vanily companies with a horizontal merger,” Lila continued, enjoying the acidic pain that burned through the heartless man’s soul. “Oh, and did I tell you? From the day Adrien died, Chat Noir stopped patrolling the city.” 

The rush of ‘What if he was murdered because I was Hawkmoth?’ and ‘There are no more Agrestes left...’ smashed into him like water reaching the bottom of the waterfall. There was no mercy behind the strong wave of despair; no mercy behind Lila Rossi’s cold eyes and satisfied smile; no mercy that the world had left for him as a punishment for all his crimes. 

“I think I might know who killed him, but I need you to be honest with me,” Lila said softly, enjoying the view of the man’s bowed head. The swollen red of his teary eyes made something inside her heart stir, and it wasn’t sympathy. No, not at all. Her heart swelled with a triumphant laugh, a satisfaction that can only be achieved through the means of revenge. “What happened to the peacock miraculous?” 

»»——⍟——«« 

_[Paris, three months ago]_

_In the midst of destruction you could easily find pain, agony, and despair, because wherever you looked, there was someone who had no time to mourn, but still mourned nonetheless. Ladybug had lost count of how many Paris lost after the hundredth- And the count was only increasing exponentially by every passing second. The former city of love was doing its’ best impression of a society undergoing an apocalypse- In fact, it_ **_was_ ** _a society undergoing an apocalypse._

_Exhaustion clawed at Paris’s heroine like a monster that wanted to be released from its’ cage. It tore at her without pause, releasing soreness into her muscles and weariness into her mentality. How much longer did she had to fight? How much longer until she couldn’t go on anymore? How much longer until Paris would fall into the hands of the man who could only focus on what he wanted?_

_And what would happen to Paris if she couldn’t stand any longer to defend it?_

_Smoke painted every inch and corner of the skyline in an abstract painting, which would’ve been beautiful if it wasn’t because of the direness of the situation. The clouds were stained a dirty red and firetrucks wailed in the distance, too little of them to keep up with the demand of damage control. Screams echoed across the city, a painful reminder to the heroine of how many lives she had let down. Nothing pained the heroine more than the fact she had been trusted with so many and ended up failing just as many._

_A little distance away, shrouded under the same red sky that Ladybug stood under, was the Le Grand Paris. A section of the grand hotel had caved in, leaving the top half of the building in ruins. The golden embellishments of the hotel were caked in dust, the grandeur of Paris’s greatest hotel submitting to the chaos and destruction around it._

_“Come on! Get in here! Hurry up!”_

_Chloe couldn’t believe her eyes._

_There stood Mayor Bourgeois, urgently yelling out orders for as many people as possible to get into the hotel’s wine cellar, which would be underground and as safe as it got at the moment. The endless stream of Parisians flowed continuously through the open doors of the hotel, the hotel’s large wine cellar being able to accommodate about half of Paris’s (surviving) population._

_For once in her life, Chloe was proud to call the mayor her father._

_“Daddy! I’ll go get more people here!” She yelled over the bustling noise. Worry clumped over the mayor and butler Jean’s eyes, but her father nodded nonetheless, a smile slipping over his lips._

_“Be careful, my dear!”_

_On the other side of Paris, Alya was holding onto her younger siblings as tightly as she could, all four of them hidden under the dining table. A loud ring startled all of them, the second-oldest Cesaire turning her attention to her phone. Earthquake-like vibrations made multiple household objects topple and smash onto the floor, much to the twins’ terror._

_“Chloe?” She breathed, picking up the call._

_The voice that came in response was panting, taking hurried, shuddering breaths. The consistent thump-thump-thump of footsteps also echoed through the phone, accompanied by the distance rings of destruction. “Where are you? Get your family towards Le Grand Paris, you can hide in the wine cellar!”_

_Alya couldn’t believe the blonde’s words._

_“And if you’re up to it, spread the word! The wine cellar is the safest place we have right now.”_

_The call ended, Alya blinking back her surprise in exchange of a courage that surged forward all of a sudden. “Nora, take Ella and Etta to Le Grand Paris and hide in the wine cellar.”_

_“And where are you going?”_

_Alya steeled her jittering nerves. “I’m going to get out there and help.”_

_Not too far away from the Cesaire’s apartment, Ladybug was swinging through the city, surveying the damage. The whizz of her yoyo felt deafening to her ears, and everything hurt. Her muscles were sore, her legs were shaking, and her vision felt blurry. Half of Paris was a rubble of cement and dust, and the other half was on the verge of collapsing soon._

_Ladybug’s eyes widened in horror as she jerked back, catching sight of a familiar building that was so burdened with destruction that she could barely recognise it if it wasn’t for the fact that she knew she was on the right street._

_“No. No, no, no. Nononono-” Her breath caught in her throat, suffocating and strangling her from inside._

_The bakery had collapsed._

_She prayed with all her heart that her parents had gotten out, but from the looks of it, the bakery was hit_ **_fast_ ** _and the chances that-_

_No._

_“Think positive thoughts, Marinette.” The heroine whispered to herself, desperate and unwilling to face what she was sure was the truth. “Maybe they got out. Maybe they got out. They’re fine.”_

_Even as she swung off, Ladybug knew in her heart that despite the lies she insisted on telling herself, her parents’ dead bodies were somewhere underneath the rubble._

»»——⍟——«« 

_“Mamma!” Tears streamed down Lila’s face as she tugged and pulled at the portion of their ceiling that had chosen the diplomat as its’ victim. There was no use- Both of them knew as well as 1 + 1 that there was no way Lila could lift the concrete block by herself._

_The diplomat looked up with a weak smile, already having come to terms with how her life would end- With her lower half crushed by a ceiling. “Leave me here, dear, the building’s going to-”_

_Lila shook her head stubbornly, desperately trying to lift the concrete again, only to look up in surprise, not having expected a pair of spandexed hands to join hers. Ladybug let out a grunt as she tried to nudge the collapsed ceiling even just a little, her suit tearing due to the rough surface of the collapsed ceiling._

_“Come on, we’ll push at the count of three!” The hero instructed, groaning and giving all her strength to the giant piece of debris, but it was no use. Ladybug was tired and worn out, and the little strength she had in her was not enough to overcome the concrete’s stubbornness to stay put. “I... I could...” She flung out her yoyo, trying to think of a way to use the concrete’s weight against itself._

_“Ladybug, the building is collapsing, please just leave me be.” The diplomat pleaded. “Lila, please get out of here!”_

_The building groaned, supporting the woman’s statement. Ladybug bowed apologetically, guilt lurking in every corner of her eyes. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be of more assistance, ma’am.”_

_“You’ve done a lot for Paris. I should thank you.” The woman whispered, smiling painfully at her daughter. “I’m sorry, Lila. I love you, forever.”_

_The girl sniffled, pressing her lips into a thin line. “I love you too, mamma.”_

_“Come on, Lila.” Ladybug whispered gently, pulling the teen away. It was as heart-wrenching as abandoning a puppy on the side of the road on a rainy day, but the diplomat was right- The building was giving in, and if they didn’t get out themselves, Paris’s death count would only increase by another two._

_The escape from the building was quiet, only filled by the whizz of the yoyo. “I’m sorry I couldn’t have done more.” Ladybug said softly._

_“It’s not your fault.” Lila sniffled bitterly. Now that they were soaring over the city, Lila could see just how much of it was crumbled and broken- At least 70% of the city was reduced to rubbles, and the Eiffel tower, who had once stood tall at the core of Paris, had now bowed down to the wrath of the man who knew nothing but his own wants._

_It was at that moment that Lila Rossi decided that the person she hated the most was Hawkmoth._

»»——⍟——«« 

_You never know the true meaning of horror until you live that one moment that crushes you inside._

_It freezes your blood, it makes your heart stop, and your chest feels like its’ being constricted. You can’t breath, and your field of vision just narrows to the one point that defines the cause of all your pain. Sometimes, you don’t even know what you feel. All emotion has been drained out of you, and your brain has lagged behind, unsure of how to react._

_Chloe stood in front of Le Grand Paris- The remains of it, anyway, and came to the conclusion that her father saved at least a thousand lives that day. All by putting aside his own safety and shepherding millions of his citizens into the wine cellar._

_It was over._

_It took hours for the firefighters to dig out the entrance to the wine cellar, millions and thousands of relieved Parisians crawling from the hole. The daughter of the mayor sat and waited, helping wherever she could. There were too many tears shed, too much blood bled, and too many people dead._

_She watched the line of Parisians trickle from what was formerly Le Grand Paris’s wine cellar. She waited and waited until the sun finally had mercy on Paris and ended the day that would be marked as the end of the city of love. She prayed and hoped until she saw the last man crawl from the cellar._

_And then she faced the truth that neither her father nor butler Jean made it into the wine cellar themselves._

»»——⍟——«« 

_Adjusting to the bright light shining around her was difficult, to say the least. Paris had been shrouded in semi-darkness for the past twenty-four hours._

_Marinette sat up hurriedly, groaning at the piercing pain that shot thorugh her spine at the action. All around her were her friends’ worried faces, Alya’s, Adrien’s, Nino’s, Chloe’s- Were those_ **_tears_ ** _on Chloe’s cheeks? And was that_ **_Lila_ ** _comforting her?_

_“Alya found you passed out in the middle of the street after it ended.” Nino explained quickly._

_Ah, that was what they were calling it now, Marinette thought. The battle she had fought for over fifteen hours without pause was now labelled ‘It’._

_“What were you doing out there, you could’ve_ **_died_ ** _!” Alya scolded, but despite the tone, the teen was more glad than anything to see that the bluenette had made it._

_“Where... Are we? And why is everything so... Destroyed?”_

_The classmates shared looks that practically spelt ‘Who’s going to break it to her?’._

_“Ladybug disappeared after the battle was won. She never got to use her miraculous cure.” Chloe supplied the explanation coldly. “Thousands are dead. Almost every building needs to be rebuilt.”_

_Adrien offered her a weak smile that was on the verge of breaking. “Hawkmoth is gone for good.” There was a faint suggestion in the boy’s eyes that he was going through much more pain than any of them knew. “Hawkmoth... My father. My father was Hawkmoth. He was arrested a couple hours ago. Nathalie was Mayura.”_

_Silence shrouded the teens like a black rain cloud. “I’m sorry, Adrien.” Marinette whispered. It was coming back to her now- Chat Noir’s anguished screams when they discovered Gabriel Agreste, decked out in his purple suit, standing in the attic of Agreste Manor, Mayura’s escape- Feeling like she couldn’t go any further. The last thing she remembered was her transformation dropping, and contact with the cold hard ground._

_“Don’t be.” Lila responded nonchalantly. “I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that this whole shit was Hawkmoth’s fault and no one else’s. Almost everyone has lost a family member. Some of us lost more than others. It’s no one’s fault, so don’t you go apologising, Dupain-Cheng.”_

_Her friends murmured their agreements, giving her soft smiles despite the devastation that tore at each of their hearts._

_Marinette wanted to laugh._

_Thousands dead and it was because she couldn’t hold on for two more seconds to use her miraculous cure._

_Thousands dead, including her own parents, Lila’s, and god knows how many others’ parents, siblings, lovers, and friends._

_Thousands dead and it was all. Her. Fault._

»»——⍟——«« 

“Well?” 

Impatience decorated Lila’s tone as she tapped her heels, waiting for the terrorist’s answer. The click of her heels echoed through the room, bouncing off the concrete walls to create the loudest noise Gabriel had ever heard in a long time. 

“What happened to the peacock miraculous?” She repeated one more time for good measure, irked and irritated by the lack of answer from the other side of the glass. 

“It’s gone.” Gabriel answered softly after a while. “When they found Nathalie passed out in that alley, she didn’t have her miraculous on.” The man’s former assistant had fled after Ladybug and Chat Noir confronted them in the Agreste Manor, but two hours later, she was found unconscious in a back alley, and it was later discovered in the hospital that she had fallen into a coma. 

Bewilderment lit inside the woman’s eyes, burning beside the fury that blazed inside her soul. “Are you telling me someone _stole_ them?” She hissed, resisting the urge to slam her hands on something. 

“No.” Gabriel answered reluctantly, slightly afraid of the woman’s fury. If it was any consolation, he knew the two-inch glass wall would prevent her from inflicting any harm onto him. “I’m telling you that Duusu probably ran off with her own miraculous.” 

The woman sucked in a deep breath, regulating her breathing to regain her composure. “Then do you have any idea where she went?” 

“Duusu is corrupted and manipulative, but she’ll need a host to operate through. She’d probably look for someone emotional, someone who’s lost a lot and is in a lot of pain.” Gabriel sighed, looking up to be met by Lila’s annoyed expression. 

“Oh wow.” Said the woman sarcastically, hands propped on her hips in a pretentious, thoughtful manner. “Someone emotional, someone who’s lost a lot and is in a lot of pain. That just about defines _everyone_ that survived the apocalypse you laid on us three months ago.” 

It was at that moment Lila’s sarcastic attitude brought Gabriel to a terrifying conclusion. There was no amount of sympathy in her eyes, and judging from the hate and loath in her eyes... The revelation splashed him like a cold bucket of ice water, waking him up from the small smudge of hope he got to hold for a couple of seconds. 

“You aren’t here to get me out.” He whispered. Just when he thought that the sly woman was going to get him out of the four walls he was trapped in- She slammed her true intentions back into his face with no mercy. 

“You killed my mother, you bastard.” She smiled so sweetly that he wouldn’t be surprised if she was instantly cast as the beautiful but wicked stepmother from Snow White or perhaps the enchantress from Sleeping Beauty. “As well as the friends and family of thousand others. I hope you _rot_ in jail _forever_.” 

»»——⍟——«« 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone’s confused on the timeline of the story, this is how it goes: 
> 
> \- 3 months before current time, the final battle takes place (ch.5). Thousands die because Ladybug didn’t get to use her miraculous cure. Hawkmoth is arrested and Nathalie falls into a coma. Ladybug/Marinette leave Paris after the battle is over.  
> \- Ladybug/Marinette heads to Gotham, where Marinette gets hired into GCPD and becomes partners with Damian. She also becomes Gotham’s newest vigilante, Lan, who exposes corrupt politicians   
> \- 2 weeks before current time, Adrien Agreste is murdered and Chat Noir stops patrolling Paris. (This is when Marinette learns from Tikki that Adrien and Chat are the same person even though the conversation wasn’t written)   
> \- Current time (ch.1) Lan asks Damian to help her find the miraculous of the black cat   
> \- Damian, the next day, finds out that Plagg and the black cat miraculous have been in his apartment the whole time (He then emails her and asks her to go to his apartment to discuss things)   
> \- (ch.4) Damian and Marinette talk   
> \- At the same time, in Paris, Luka visits Chloe, who is apparently in kahoots with him   
> \- Also at the same time, Lila breaks into the highest security prison in Paris and talks to Gabriel Agreste/Hawkmoth (also partly ch.5) 
> 
> That’s about it for now :3 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment to tell me what you think :)


	6. Tick Tock, Paris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are stirring in Paris...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cross-posted on my Tumblr (@/cadenceh2o)
> 
> warning(s): murdER, implied character death
> 
> the next chapter is going to be (more or less) a retelling of this chapter (plus some more bits at the end) from another point of view. enjoy!

»»——⍟——««

“Exactly! Outrageous, isn’t it? I told them so but no one decided to listen.” Chloe complained, plopping down her handbag on the coffee table. Her feline companion, a ragdoll by the name of Pumpkin meowed in agreement despite not really understanding what the blonde was going off about.

The ragdoll was purchased by the late mayor’s daughter in order to create some presence around the apartment. Sabrina, freshly recruited in to Paris’s lacking police department (Due to the death toll of Paris’s doomsday), had started coming by less and less, pouring torrents of apologies over the phone, strings of ‘there’s too much work to do’ and ‘I’m so sorry, Chloe! I’ll come by next week, promise!’, all of which the blonde dismissed. Pumpkin was nice company, even though she didn’t spout any compliments, like the red-head used to in their school days. On the other hand, she didn’t spout demands like Luka did, either. Chloe supposed she could work with that.

The white-furred feline always seemed to know where her owner was down, especially when there were tears dripping down Chloe’s cheeks onto the glass of the photo frames of Adrien, her father, and butler Jean. Purrs would vibrate down the cat’s vertebrae, running all the way through Chloe’s skin and bones until it resounded soothingly inside the blonde’s chest.

Chloe would laugh and ruffle Pumpkin’s fur, much to the well-groomed cat’s annoyance. The tears would stop being shed, even if it was only momentarily. The feline would purr, pleased, and then proceed to urgently ask for belly rubs. The sad smiles would be wiped away and be replaced with giggles and sentences of ‘you’re so demanding!’, which pacified Pumpkin’s urge to swat her owner out of misery.

The two plopped down on the pearl-white cushions of Chloe’s luxurious couch, Pumpkin insistently wiggling into the blonde’s lap, purring when the woman threaded her fingers through the white fur. The television turned on with a bleep, immediately spouting out Nadja’s voice as the woman continued her news report.

“ _It’s a miracle, Parisians! Ladybug is seen swinging through the city with a smile, greeting us with a return after her three-month-absence—_ ”

Chloe spit out the coffee she was drinking, much to the slightly-soaked-with-hot-coffee feline’s displeasure. “L-Ladybug?”

And true enough, playing on the screen was a video of the heroine swinging by the city, the whirl of her yoyo an all-too-familiar sound. Blood rushed out of the blonde’s face like water that had been previously trapped in a dam.

“No way...”

The ring of her phone was alike to a fire alarm, making her heart thump. Blue eyes flitted over to the framed photos of Adrien, the mayor and butler Jean, the smiles on their faces preserved forever under the sheet of glass.

“ _It’s time._ ” Luka’s voice said huskily over the phone line. Pumpkin looked up, having stopped complaining in yowls for a moment as she sensed the importance of the moment. “ _We take action now._ ”

»»——⍟——««

The distant drone of the television brought some comfort to the 25-year-old Lila Rossi, who busied herself with unpacking the groceries in the quiet apartment that felt too new for her liking. There was no smell of ‘home’ lingering inside the blank white walls; no familiar voice and motherly embrace; no one to cuddle up on the couch with as the day’s news report played.

Shaking her head, she couldn’t help but think if she had somehow played a hand in her mother’s death. Perhaps, if she wasn’t so hateful in her teenage years and didn’t egg Hawkmoth on, he wouldn’t have evolved into the terrorist he became.

“ _It’s a miracle, Parisians! Ladybug is seen swinging through the city with a smile, greeting us with a return after her three-month-absence—_ ”

Lila stopped in her steps, colour draining out of her skin as the name resonated further, Nadja’s voice excited as ever as she reported the news that would no doubt lift Parisian’s hearts after the murder of Adrien Agreste and the disappearance of Chat Noir.

Hurriedly, the Italian woman scrambled to catch a glimpse of the video the news was broadcasting. There she was, in all her heroine glory; Ladybug, swinging through the city with a broad smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

Lila could recognise a lie when she saw one.

And apparently, she could recognise alleys, too.

»»——⍟——««

[ Half an hour ago ; Before the news footage was aired ] 

“What do you _mean_ we got an anonymous call saying Ladybug would appear?” The disbelief in Nadja’s voice was loud and clear for everyone to hear as the news crew dashed into the designated location that they were given the address of, setting up the equipment as fast as possible. Time trickled from the upper half of the hourglass, slowly suffocating whoever was caught in the bottom half. Time was merciless; It favoured the fast and nimble, devouring the slow and maladroit.

“I don’t know how genuine it is, but we don’t get the luxury of taking the chance, Nadja!” The director argued back, his breath catching on his words as the familiar whizz of Paris’s heroine’s yoyo sounded from the distance. “Roll the cameras! _NOW_! Nadja, grab the mic and go!”

True enough, Ladybug swung down the street, wearing a dazzling smile for all the cameras to catch. She made a waving movement, winking right at the camera— It was as if she knew there would be a news crew waiting right around the bend. Below in the street, a group of pre-schoolers with their gaping teacher caught sight of the heroine, cheering and clapping for the superhero who had made an appearance after her lengthy absence.

“Ladybug!” The pre-schoolers cheered, the sound crew rushing to catch the sound.

Nadja cleared her throat, surprise still worn like a striking mascara, and faced the cameraman. “It’s a miracle, Parisians!”

»»——⍟——««

[ Back to present time ] 

“ _Why_ do you always insist on meeting up here?” The blonde complained in exaggerated displeasure, stepping cautiously through the cement-caked floors of Le Grande Paris’s construction site. The golden hotel was being rebuilt, taking tiny, minuscule steps back to its’ former glory. 

“Because it’s _safe_.” Luka hissed, stepping out of the shadows like a vampire. “I can’t risk going to your apartment anymore.” 

“And _I_ can risk meeting you in a _construction site_?” The blonde scoffed, inspecting her nails with a criticising eye. “I scratched one of my nails getting up here.” 

The turquoise-eyed man shot her a look. “This is _your_ hotel. You have every reason to be in the construction site.” 

“Do I look like the kind of person who would voluntarily walk into a dusty, filthy, icky construction site?” The deceased mayor’s daughter shot back, now the sole owner of all the mayor’s former assets. 

Luka opened his mouth to retort, only to find that the blonde had a point. “Whatever. We have to take action now. We need to take down Ladybug _today_.” 

“What? We don’t even have a plan yet!” Chloe was flabbergasted. Her protests went unheard, however, as the turquoise-haired man replied with a piercing glare. Luka frowned, formulating a plan in his head, trying to match pieces and cover his weaknesses. “Maybe we shouldn’t take action so quickly—” 

“We don’t know how long Ladybug will be in Paris,” The man turned his head around so fast Chloe was amazed he didn’t snap his neck. “We have to take action _now_. Do you want your father back or not?” 

Silence was restored in the construction site after Luka’s outburst, the two staring at each other. The blonde swallowed, gathering up the courage to look into Luka’s eyes. Something in her resolve had changed, Luka realised. 

_She was right all along_ , Luka narrowed his eyes, recognising the spark of _good_ inside Chloe’s eyes. _Chloe would eventually betray me._

“Stop this, Luka.” Chloe breathed quietly, steeling her nerves and making them line upright. “You know as well as I do that this... _This_ is wrong.” 

A maniacal laugh echoed through the hollow cement supports of the building as Luka’s eyes gleamed with a mixture of fury and bitterness. The hotel shuddered, frightened by the man who would stop at nothing to bring his beloved back to the city. “Chloe, Chloe, _Chloe_... I _knew_ it would come to this.” Luka hissed, baring his teeth. “I knew you were going to betray me— I just never thought you’d do it so early on. Are you getting nerves? Scared of letting Ladybug down?” 

“Stop this, Luka.” Chloe pleaded, hoping there was the tiniest speck of humanity left in the man’s heart. “Please. Turn yourself in. Don’t kill anyone else.” 

“She was right.” Luka whispered, eerily quiet. His voice echoed back from the columns, dust crunching under his feet as he stepped closer to Chloe, approaching her with the eyes of a predator. “You had your own intentions _right. From. The. Start._ ” 

The blonde’s instincts told her to _run_ , to _flee_ , to get away from the psychopathic man in front of her— But her feet were frozen to the ground, holding her in place just like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s trap. “You know that this is wrong,” She breathed, “You know that murdering Adrien was wrong. If you kill Ladybug for her miraculous, what makes you different from Hawkmoth?” 

Fury burned like a wildfire inside the man’s eyes as he raised a hand to strike her— But as Chloe turned to him, he caught a flash of blue eyes, similar to the ones he once looked into with adoration— 

“Shut up!” 

“Stop denying it! You know I’m right. You’re a _murderer_ , Luka, and you know just as well as I do that Marinette would never forgive you for killing Adrien!” 

The tides were turning, pushing back against the turquoise-haired man, who was clutching his head in pain, grunting and fighting an inner turmoil that boiled like the angered seas. “Shut! Up!” He cried, wishing the voices would just _stop_. For a moment, Luka looked up in horror, Chloe’s tearful form looming over him, begging him to turn himself in, begging him to give himself up for Adrien’s murder— _god, what had he done?_

_Don’t listen to her, Luka. You’re very, very close to bringing Marinette back. You don’t want to give up now, do you?_

The tsunami of voices in his head receded, leaving behind a barren wasteland, unsalvageable memories, and a morality carried away by the retreating waters. Luka stood up, a new coldness in his eyes, all inner conflict washed away by a sudden moment of clarity. 

“I’m not going to let anyone stop me.” He whispered. “Not you, not Adrien, not _Ladybug_.” 

Fear stirred inside Chloe’s heart— She thought she had him convinced, that Luka had finally realised the magnitude of his actions— But someone flicked a switch inside him, and everything _good_ that was left was instantly erased. 

“Denial will be your downfall, Luka. Please. Stop this. You don’t want to hurt anyone— I know you don’t.” 

“I guess you don’t love your father or butler Jean that much, huh.” Luka replied quietly. 

Almost instantly, tears begin spilling out of the blonde’s eyes, an anguished yell coming from the depths of her pain. “Mark my words, Luka.” She gritted her teeth, streams of her sorrow trickling down her cheeks. “Denial—” 

—will be your downfall.

The concrete column, decorated with splatters of red that stood out brightly against the dusty grey, was reminiscent of an abstract painting. A series of soft pleads were disregarded, diminished by the echoing sound of Luka’s footsteps as he walked away, wiping his bloodied blade with the edge of his jacket. 

_Tick tock, Paris_. 

»»——⍟——««

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> were you guys convinced that chloe was bad in the previous chapters? i feel like it was pretty obvious she was good... which is bad, because I wanted to make her seem like she was on luka’s side. 
> 
> do you guys think she’s dead? ;) 
> 
> I’m also thinking of pulling another character into the story to make shit even more confusing :D guess who? 


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